PLATINUM2024

Amethyst Place, Inc.

Where families come home to heal

Kansas City, MO   |  http://www.amethystplace.org/

Mission

The Noble Cause of Amethyst Place is to inspire transformational healing and empower generations of women and children to achieve recovery, reunification, and resilience. We do this through long-term supportive housing and wraparound supports to help families overcome generational poverty, substance use, and trauma.

Ruling year info

2001

Executive Director

Ms. Starla Wulf Brennan

Main address

2735 Troost

Kansas City, MO 64109 USA

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EIN

43-1887442

NTEE code info

Other Housing Support Services (L80)

Alcohol, Drug Abuse (Treatment Only) (F22)

Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (J01)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Poverty, substance use, and trauma are often interconnected cycles that pass through generations. For single mothers and their children, additional layers of societal stigma and gender inequity create further barriers for overcoming these cycles. Associated challenges include houselessness, untreated mental health disorders, intimate partner violence, family separation and foster care placement, poor educational attainment, unlivable wages, and legal system involvement. To help mothers upend these cycles for themselves, their children, and future generations, a holistic, long-term, and evidence-based approach is needed to truly heal and empower families. For 23 years, Amethyst Place has been one of the few agencies in Kansas City that provides long-term supportive housing and comprehensive services to help families transform their lives.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Supportive Housing

Moms receive a fully furnished apartment and often reunify with their children within the first few months. They have access to a multitude of on-site services, including therapy, case management, a food and hygiene pantry, clothing closet, mobile medical and dental services, and evening programming to support life skill development and sustained recovery. Families commit to living here one year, though the actual length of stay is dependent upon each client’s progress toward mutually agreed upon goals. The average length of stay for current families is 20 months. Unlike more short-term transitional housing programs, families can remain at Amethyst Place as long as needed to prepare for independent living and achieve personal goals. Through the Graduate Aftercare Program, graduates can maintain connection to the Amethyst Place community and access support services after their transition to independent living.

Population(s) Served
Substance abusers
Non-adult children

This program provides moms with extensive support to pursue their educational and vocational goals. Our moms have limited work histories due to the challenges of single parenting, limited education, unreliable transportation, and justice system involvement. More than half of our residents enter our program without a high school diploma. Very few enter the program with a computer and the skills necessary to use one. Our Family Empowerment Program’s unique focus on advancing post-secondary education provides single mothers the rare opportunity to pursue their education while supporting their families thanks to our income-based housing. Investing in education allows mothers to pull their families out of poverty, which will profoundly impact future generations. Research has demonstrated that single mothers with a bachelor’s degree earn 62% more than those with a high school diploma (https://iwpr.org/publications/investing-single-mothers-higher-ed/). Educational support is provided through volunteer-led tutoring for moms and children, GED preparation and testing, and a college assistance fund to help with school expenses. In addition, our 100 Jobs for 100 Moms program offers supported employment at one of 18 local employers that participate. Moms receive on-the-job mentorship, access to a career path, and financial incentives to celebrate job performance and participation in peer group meetings. Through the EnCompass mentoring program, moms develop positive social networks with two mentors, meeting twice a month for a meal and activity, and oftentimes receive additional support outside of scheduled sessions. Other elements of the Family Empowerment Program include community-based case management and the child mentoring program.

Population(s) Served
Substance abusers
Families

Families have access to on-site therapeutic services provided by our Clinical team, which has expanded significantly in the past year to include a Director of Clinical Operations, Family Care Manager, Family Support Therapist, Child Therapist, Recovery Support Specialist, and often an MSW and/or BSW intern. More than 90% of current residents have a dual diagnosis: substance use disorder with co-occurring depression, anxiety, and/or PTSD. Prior to residency at Amethyst Place, our families face many barriers to addressing mental health issues including lack of transportation and child care, lack of phone and internet access, and frequent changes in therapists due to high mobility. Additionally, children often arrive with a host of emotional issues that are a result of separation from their parents and experiencing the chaos of parental substance use, making the need for family therapy essential to improving family functioning and relationships. Each family develops an individualized treatment plan in concert with the Clinical team and treatment team meetings are held at intake, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 6 months, 9 months, 1 year, and every 6 months after. Amethyst Place uses a variety of evidence-based therapies and practices to help families better manage their mental health and heal from past trauma. Therapies are provided in individual, family, and group modalities. Specific evidence-based practices include motivational interviewing, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, contingency management, relapse prevention, intensive case management, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, sand tray therapy, and play therapy.

Population(s) Served
Families
Substance abusers

Where we work

Accreditations

Missouri Department of Mental Health Certification 2021

National Alliance of Recovery Residences (NARR) Certification 2022

Awards

Philly Awards - Silver, Long Form Video 2021

Nonprofit Connect

Excellence in Impact Award - Medium Division 2023

Nonprofit Connect

Philly Awards - Gold, Annual Report 2023

Nonprofit Connect

Philly Awards - Gold, Fundraising Campaign 2023

Nonprofit Connect

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Percentage of adults who maintain or regain their recovery while residing at Amethyst Place.

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Women and girls

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Our Noble Cause is to inspire transformational healing and empower generations of women and children to achieve recovery, reunification, and resilience. Entering our program, families are unhoused, most children are in foster care, and moms are in early recovery. Yet annually, through our long-term supportive housing program at 28th and Troost, we help 200 women and children overcome the interconnected cycles of poverty, trauma, and substance use to achieve multi-generational impact. Our Supportive Housing Program provides safe housing through 37 fully furnished apartments and access to basic needs, with no maximum length of stay. Our Family Empowerment Program supports educational, career, financial, and wellness goals to help families overcome generational poverty. Finally, our Therapeutic Support Program helps families heal from past trauma, stabilize mental health, improve parenting skills, and build resilience.

Our services are provided through three program areas:

Supportive Housing: The goal of the Supportive Housing Program is to reunify and stabilize families through 37 apartment units with wraparound supports.

Family Empowerment Program: The goal of the Family Empowerment Program is to help families increase their economic and social mobility through educational, vocational, financial, and wellness support and programming.

Therapeutic Support Program: The goal of the Therapeutic Support Program is to help families heal from past trauma, stabilize mental health, improve parenting skills, and build resilience.

Amethyst Place is a long-term supportive housing program that inspires transformational healing and empowers generations of women and children to achieve recovery, reunification, and resilience. Located at 28th and Troost, we serve families from across the KC Metro area. Poverty, substance use, and trauma are often interconnected cycles that pass through generations. For single mothers and their children, additional layers of societal stigma and gender inequity create further barriers for overcoming these cycles. Associated challenges include houselessness, untreated mental health disorders, intimate partner violence, family separation and foster care placement, poor educational attainment, unlivable wages, and legal system involvement. To help mothers upend these cycles for themselves, their children, and future generations, a holistic, long-term, and evidence-based approach is needed to truly heal and empower families. For 23 years, Amethyst Place has been one of the few agencies in Kansas City that provides long-term supportive housing and comprehensive services to help families transform their lives. Through our program model, we are a leader in collective impact work, coordinating care and maximizing resources for families referred to us from our nine referral partners.

Key Outcomes in 2023 included:

Overcoming houselessness: We reunited, stabilized, and healed 163 women and children. 90% of families that have left Amethyst Place as successful graduates since 2020 are still stably housed in the community.

Reunifying families: 96% of children in out-of-home placement were reunified with their mom and siblings at Amethyst Place or on the path to reunification with regular visitation.

Sustaining recovery: 95% of moms in our program maintained or re-engaged in their recovery - more than double the national average.

Overcoming poverty: 86% of women were employed, in school, or employed while in school. This is notable compared to intake, when just 40% of women were employed and 0% were in school.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.
  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback

Financials

Amethyst Place, Inc.
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

Amethyst Place, Inc.

Board of directors
as of 01/19/2024
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board co-chair

Ms. Brooke Runnion

Lockton Companies

Term: 2023 - 2025


Board co-chair

Ms. Jaimie Gray

Program graduate/Operation Breakthrough

Term: 2023 - 2025

Elizabeth Glynn

Travois

Brooke Runnion

Lockton Companies

Anthony Johnson

CLARCOR Industrial Air (Parker Hannifin)

Liz Tobin

BlueScope

Jaimie Gray

Program Graduate/Operation Breakthrough

Sara Beth Burton

Hallmark

Barbara Anne Washington

MO State Senator, District 9

Yvonne Brewington

Research Medical Center

Michele Kemp

Community Volunteer

Rev. Catherine Stark-Corn

Community Volunteer

Randy Bennett

Rawhide Harley Davidson

Erica Handley

Program Council/Operation Breakthrough

Brittani Williams

Program Council/Jackson County Family Treatment Court

Kathryn Evans

Rooted Strategy

Liz Bean

Program Graduate/REVILO Salon

Lauren Allen

Housing Authority of KCMO

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 1/19/2024

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or Straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

Transgender Identity

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 02/23/2023

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.